PHILADELPHIA — Like weekend golfers who only remember the good shots from their latest round in the 90s, Emmet Sheehan has given the Dodgers enough glimpses of his potential to hold on to a spot in their starting rotation.
But he keeps spending too much time in the rough.
Six of the first 10 batters Sheehan faced on Monday night reached base. Four of them scored in the second inning and it only got marginally better from there for Sheehan. It got worse for the Dodgers, who couldn’t keep up as the Philadelphia Phillies hit five home runs and beat them, 10-7.
Sheehan found his way back to the fairway for a few innings. But his ERA after 18 starts this season crept back over the 5.00 mark (5.13), the unhealthy air it has breathed most of this season.
Sheehan gave up a leadoff double to Trea Turner in the first inning then hit Kyle Schwarber with a pitch. After Bryce Harper flew out, Tommy Edman saved Sheehan from getting any deeper into trouble.
Edman started the game at third base as the Dodgers put some more right-handed options in the lineup against Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sanchez. When Alec Bohm hit a hard ground ball to his left, Edman made a diving stop, popped up and threw to second to start an inning-ending double play.
Sheehan needed more help in the second. After striking out Brandon Marsh, he gave up three consecutive hits including an RBI double by Gabrial Rincones Jr. A second run scored on a sacrifice fly by Justin Crawford then Sheehan hung a 1-and-0 slider over the heart of the plate. Turner sent it on a 404-foot journey into the left field seats.
The Dodgers wasted a scoring opportunity in the first inning against Sanchez, leaving the bases loaded after Sanchez hit a batter, gave up a single to Freddie Freeman and Turner booted a ball at shortstop.
They got one run back in the fourth inning. Mookie Betts led off with a single, went to third on Miguel Rojas’ single and scored when Teoscar Hernandez hit into a double play.
After singles by Betts and Hernandez drove Sanchez from the game in the sixth inning, the Dodgers crawled back within a run, 4-3, on an RBI double by Max Muncy and a run-scoring single by Pages (generously scored on a dribbler that Turner also mishandled).
But Sheehan gave up a leadoff home run to Brandon Marsh in the bottom of the inning and Bryson Stott doubled when his long drive bounced off Pages’ glove at the warning track in center field and Sheehan failed to complete six innings for the 13th time in his 18 starts.
Alex Vesia took over, walked pinch-hitter Derek Hill and gave up a three-run home run off the left field foul pole to Turner.
Hill and Bryce Harper hit home runs off Dodgers reliever Landon Knack. But the Dodgers did not go quietly. Betts hit a solo home run in the eighth inning and a two-run homer in the ninth. The four-hit game was Betts’ first multi-hit game since July 2. The home runs were his first since June 27.
More to come on this story.